The owners of a beloved bookshop which was forced to close due to rocketing rent prices have reopened a store in a long-empty former waiting room at Whitstable railway station.

Oxford Street Books had been managed by Tiziana Mazzoli and her partner Michael Dowling for five years, but served as a bookshop for about 17.

The duo announced they were reluctantly vacating the premises last year and closed the store on October 3.

But after eight months, they have finally opened Books in Waiting in the former waiting room on the station’s London-bound platform, which closed more than 20 years ago.

Mr Dowling said: “I was walking on the platform in September and thought the room would make a nice shop.

“I went to the ticket office, asked them about it and they had no idea.

“But they gave me the contact who manages the property.”

He soon started discussions with Southeastern, but their franchise was terminated and taken over by the Department for Transport-owned SE Trains Limited in October last year.

“It took until two weeks ago to get a relatively simplistic contract signed,” Mr Dowling added.

The pair had looked at the high street area, but said the prices were “ridiculous”.

“We know a couple of places that are £3,000-a-month and even a very successful restaurant is going to look at that as over-the-top,” Mr Dowling said.

“I said the station could be a temporary thing for the next year as at some point property prices are going to go down.

“When that does happen, we are going to look at some of the commercial properties that are vacant and possibly purchase one.”

The new shop launched last Saturday, and its opening hours are 9.30am to 6pm on Monday, Thursday and Friday, 9.30am to 6.30pm on Saturday and 2.30pm to 5pm on Sunday. They close every day between 1pm and 2.30pm.

Ms Mazzoli said: “The waiting room has been closed for more than 20 years and we are the first ones to open up anything there.

“It is great to be back and start all over again after what we’ve been through. We have huge storage full of books.

“We feel very happy and relieved that we’ve found a premises where we can trade and it’s in Whitstable.

“It is cosy, easy to navigate and for people they are not overwhelmed with lots of books as we had seven rooms and people got confused.”